Dodgers Show They’re More Than Just Talk : Baseball: Lasorda’s speech is the inspiration behind 5-4 victory over Rockies. Gwynn’s sacrifice fly wins it.

It was vintage Tom Lasorda.

He worked himself into a frenzy Saturday afternoon. He paced the clubhouse floor. He screamed about Dodger pride.

He told his players that no team, least of all the Colorado Rockies, can get away with uttering disparaging remarks about the Dodgers as long as he’s the manager.

If the Rockies don’t respect the Dodgers now, Lasorda vowed they would by the time they left town.

The Dodgers, apparently fueled by Lasorda’s talk, went out and beat the Rockies, 5-4, in front of a season-high sellout of 54,005 at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers managed to make it interesting--blowing a 4-1 lead in the eighth after aseries of moves that left Lasorda open to second-guessing--but Chris Gwynn won the game with a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth.

“That was a huge win for us,” said Gwynn, who drove in his first run since May 14. “I wanted to do anything I could to drive in that run. Tommy got us a little pumped up, anyway.”

Lasorda, angered by Colorado Manager Don Baylor’s comments Friday about the Dodgers, exploited Baylor’s words in a fiery speech.

Baylor said nothing more critical than that with all the Dodgers’ talk of being the best team in the division, they still need to prove it on the field.

If you took a poll of the rest of the National League, particularly the folks in San Francisco and San Diego, they’d tell you the same thing. There’s no one in the league that teams enjoy defeating more than the Dodgers. Yet, perhaps because this is only the Rockies’ third year, they weren’t entitled to such an opinion.

“There’s a lot of jealousy and envy out there,” Lasorda said. “That’s what it is. You never hear me criticizing another organization, do you?

“So I decided to have a nice little talk with my team about it.”

Said one Dodger: “Hey, we know there are teams out there who don’t like us, but who are those guys to talk? Some of their players have been popping off too. Tell those guys to get a tradition before they pop off. What have they been around, three years? Yeah, like we care what guys in purple uniforms have to say.”

The Dodgers (33-29), who regained first place in the National League West with the victory, one-half game ahead of the Rockies, certainly looked like a different team than the one that lost three of the last four games--right up until the eighth.

The Rockies, trailing, 4-1, tied the score on Andres Galarraga’s two-run homer against closer Todd Worrell, the first earned run he has given up in 26 innings this season.

“Nobody’s perfect, “ Worrell said, “[Angel closer] Lee Smith and I proved that this week.”

The Dodgers had been cruising behind Willie Banks and Pedro Astacio, who had pitched two shutout innings, but in the eighth, Lasorda called on Rudy Seanez, who pitched two scoreless innings Friday. Seanez gave up a leadoff double to Eric Young, and after retiring Mike Kingery on a grounder, Ellis Burks hit a run-scoring single.

Lasorda turned to Worrell, who had been perfect in 12 save opportunities this season. Worrell induced a groundout from left-handed hitter Larry Walker, but Galarraga hit the next pitch deep into the left-field pavilion, tying the score, 4-4.

No matter, the Dodgers came right back in the bottom of the eighth when Roberto Kelly led off with a double off the base of the center-field wall. Raul Mondesi and Tim Wallach walked, loading the bases for Gwynn, who was brought in as a pinch-hitter for rookie Roger Cedeno. Darren Holmes worked the count to 2-2 when Gwynn hit a fly ball to deep left field, easily scoring Kelly.

Worrell, who batted in the eighth inning for the first time in six years and struck out, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his second victory.

“I pitched the ninth like I was supposed to, right?” Worrell said. “I just came in an inning too early.

“It was just a good team win. We finally executed. We didn’t make the silly mistakes. What I can’t stand is when we don’t play up to our capabilities and just beat ourselves.”

Said first baseman Eric Karros: “We just want to play our game. I couldn’t care less what Don Baylor or what some of their guys have been saying.

“We’ve got our opinion. They’ve got theirs. Let’s leave it at that.”